Sea Grant gets $2.6 million for research, outreach

04/08/1998

CORVALLIS - The National Sea Grant College Program has awarded $2.6 million to Oregon Sea Grant for the first year of a three-year grant request by the marine research, outreach and education program based at Oregon State University.

The federal grant, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 1998 Congressional appropriation, will be matched by $1.6 million in state of Oregon funds each year. Federal funding for the full three-year period is expected to top $8 million.

About half of the money is passed on in competitive grants to Oregon researchers studying ocean and coastal issues. The rest goes to support Sea Grant extension and public education efforts.

The latest grant marks a change in Sea Grant's research funding strategy. Where, in past years, grant winners were chosen by the program's national office, this year state programs were permitted to select their own grantees, based on program prioritie s and a stringent peer-review process.

"We're still held strictly accountable for the way the money is spent," said Oregon program director Robert Malouf, "but we have more flexibility to respond to local and regional research needs."

To help identify those needs, Oregon Sea Grant convened a Coastal Issues Forum, sought advice from its own lay advisory panel and talked to literally hundreds of scientists, coastal residents and business and agency representatives.

"The result is a program that we are confident will apply sound science and the most effective outreach tools to address important coastal issues," Malouf said.

Individual grants, ranging from $20,000 to $220,000 over the three-year period, will go to study issues ranging from salmon habitat restoration and groundfish stock assessments to water pollution, seafood quality assurance and the economics of ports an d marinas. The 20 research projects chosen for funding involve 50 scientists and at least two-dozen graduate and undergraduate students.

Several projects, chosen as part of Sea Grant's National Strategic Investments effort, focus research on high-priority national issues. Sea Grant's outreach component will support 18 Extension Sea Grant agents and specialists on the coast and at OSU, i ncluding a new groundfish specialist.

The program also received funding to continue producing and distributing books, pamphlets, research reports, radio programs, videos and other educational material, including its World Wide Web site.

Oregon was one of the first states to sign on with the National Sea Grant College Program, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Today, Oregon Sea Grant is among the largest of the 29 state Sea Grant programs. The program recently added mana gement of the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center public wing to its responsibilities.